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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Outlaw Marvin Kuhns Wins an Award

The cool October weather continues...last night I traveled north{again} for a Junior Varsity contest, this time to my Uncle Jack's hometown of Antwerp...it was at least 15 degrees colder than Celina when I arrived...45 as compared to 57 when I departed at 3pm. A light rain was falling as we took the field. Thing improved, except the stadium clock, which failed to work, so I kept the time on the field, for the 26-0 Wayne Trace victory over the home standing Archers.

Tonight, under the lights here in Celina for the final 7th grade game of the year....the weather promises to be cool...

Marvin Kuhns____

In February 2008 I blogged a 3 part story on the infamous Midwest Outlaw Marvin Kuhns....A born and bred Hoosier from Northern Indiana, Marvin was a bank robber, horse thief, and all around outlaw throughout northeast Indiana and northern Ohio in the late 1800s and early part of the 20th Century....

Marvin met his demise in June of 1907, outside of my small hometown of Scott, Ohio. Van Wert County Sheriff Fred Hott and his band of Deputies put an end to The Outlaw Marvin Kuhns life of crime.

A year or so ago a resident of Scott, who works for the Paulding Progress Newspaper, made contact with me about my stories of Marvin....she was interested in his life and crimes. I had, photos, weapons, newspaper articles, in my hands, and other information that I had gathered from the Internet...Nancy took what I had, and began her research.

She gathered family information from his childhood home, old photos, and more material...she turned it into a article for "the Progress"...this morning I got this e-mail from her:

Congratulations to Nancy and the "Paulding Progress" for the awards...glad I could help with my small part.

My dad, Stan Houseworth, had received both Marvin's and Fred Hott's .38s from Hott's son back in the late 1960s....he also was the recipient of the various Van Wert Newspaper articles on Marvin's demise, and the death bed photo of the slain outlaw seen at the top....

Nancy's story expanded on what I penned on this blog back in February 2008, here:

If you choose to read it all, that should give you an idea of what kind of man Marvin Kuhns was...and what became of him.

Back Later>>>>

Photos-top left/Marvin Kunhs lays on his death bed at the Van Wert, Ohio County Jail in June 1907....and the Van Wert Newspaper articles celebration of the capture and demise of the Outlaw. Finally, Sheriff Fred Hott's 5 shot/top break Smith and Wesson .38 police revolver...manufactured in 1906. The gun used to dispatch Kuhns...looking as new today as it did back in 1907. I also have Marvin's .38 Iver-Johnson, still usable, but not in as pristine condition as the S&W.

What is amazing Shrinky, he was accused and convicted of murdering an Ohio man...and he was actually pardoned. Back in those days, they usually just hung the killers, few were pardoned, especially for murder.

The guy was a criminal, and I guess he knew no other way of life...but it made a great story.

Marvin Kuhns was my great great uncle. I have done much research on my family tree and found that Marvin had made furniture of some sort, perhaps little trinket boxes or so, while he was in prison. As a child of fostercare myself, I wish I could find one of these items and pass it down to my child.